


Where Land Meets the Sea

by OtterlyDeerlightful



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Family, Fate, Feels, I know nothing of the fishing industry, I've put too much thought into merfolk biology, M/M, Magic, Mermaids, Mermen, Soulmates, merfolk, underwater adventure I guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-05-17 09:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14829908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtterlyDeerlightful/pseuds/OtterlyDeerlightful
Summary: After Robbie's dreams of being a beloved, lucrative artist crash and burn, he doesn't think there's anything he can do to sink any deeper. The ocean, however, proves just how wrong he is in the most literal way...but maybe 'sinking' will be the best thing that's ever happened to him...





	1. "It'll Get Better"

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Lazy Cove](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12798678) by [indigorose50](https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigorose50/pseuds/indigorose50). 



> MerMay victory lap! XD
> 
> I've had this idea in my head for months now and, with the sudden spike in merfolk talk in the fandom I decided to start hammering it out in my spare time. I've yet to look at the results for my "what should I work on next?" poll, so updates may be faster or slower depending on that.
> 
> Either way, stuff will be churning out soon enough.

It had been a long time coming. Robbie knew that; he’d known it for months now. He had put things off for as long as humanly possible, but he had known all along, deep down, that he was just delaying the inevitable. There was no other way to put it. He had failed. He had failed miserably, and now all that was left for him was picking up the few pieces he could carry and start over. Somehow. All in all, it was far from Robbie’s finest hour. As he picked up his last box of paints and brushes, both of which had surely aged beyond their intended lifespans, Robbie realized that he finally had to admit defeat. He was, like it or not, moving in with his cousin Glanni.

With a heavy sigh, Robbie adjusted the box in his arms and took one last look at the now-barren room that had acted as both his bedroom and studio for almost the last five years. The empty walls around him almost seemed to be staring back, like they were judging him for all the shortcomings he had shown while living here. Robbie wanted to say that the room looked like the life had left the place without the presence of his life strewn about, but in actuality, the sterile walls actually looked healthier for the absence of his work. As much as it pained the man to admit, his mere existence seemed to have been a blight on the environment’s very wellbeing. And that was, really, the root of his current circumstance, wasn’t it? It was hard to earn any sort of income if no one wanted to buy your stale, polluted art. If one could manage to create even that. No money meant no apartment, and the whiteness of the liberated walls almost stung his eyes at the mere thought of the situation at hand.

“You done saying your good-byes yet?” asked the dark-haired man leaning on the doorframe behind him.

Robbie frowned, in no hurry to turn around. “ _Yes_ , Glanni.”

“I’ll be downstairs.” His cousin turned to leave, but stopped short. “I was thinking pizza for dinner. Sound good to you?”

Robbie shrugged. “Whatever.”

Glanni hung back for only a second more before leaving Robbie alone with his thoughts again. The man sighed and readjusted the box in his arms. This was it, the end of an era. He left what was once his home behind and wandered out to the common area beyond. Robbie had never been through the area much. Now that he really looked at it, it felt smaller than he remembered. His now-former roommate looked up from where he was seated on the couch. Robbie offered an awkward smile, unsure what to say in a situation like this.

“Good luck, man,” the man said to him.

That seemed like a decent enough idea. “Uh, yeah. Thanks…” Robbie tried to remember the other man’s name. Nothing. Well, no one ever accused him of being a social butterfly, now did they? “You, too,” he added in a desperate attempt to avoid making an already-awkward conversation even worse. He quickly left the apartment.

“Well,” the failed artist mumbled to himself as he shuffled into the elevator and pressed the appropriate button. “That was anticlimactic.”

Robbie left the building and slid into the waiting passenger’s seat of Glanni’s car. He set his box on his lap and let out a small sigh.

“Hey, you okay?” Glanni asked from the driver’s seat.

“As good as I could be,” was all Robbie offered in reply.

His cousin turned over the engine and pulled into the light afternoon traffic. The pair drove in silence; not even the radio interrupted the melancholy atmosphere of the car. Robbie stared at the door handle, not even wanting to watch the passing scenery right now. He felt the car slow to a stop at another traffic light and heard Glanni clear his throat beside him. Robbie suppressed a groan and, instead, prepared himself for the incoming pep talk that he really didn’t want to hear right now.

“I know this…isn’t exactly where you planned on being right now,” Glanni began. Robbie closed his eyes as Glanni continued. “But this…doesn’t has to be as bad as you think. This’ll pass, Robin. I know things look a little bleak right now, but…it’ll get better. Life gets better, Robbie.”

“What if things _were_ better?” Robbie asked darkly.

Glanni sighed. “I know it sounds cliché, but…it’s true. When I was in your shoes I didn’t believe it either. But, you have one thing that I _didn’t_ have.”

There was a pause and Robbie was sure that Glanni was looking square at him, though he refused to check.

“What?” Robbie asked with a groan.

“ _Me!_ ”

Robbie looked down at the hand suddenly patting his thigh with the utmost distrain. The offending extremity went back to the steering wheel and Robbie allowed his curled lip to relax once again.

“And what makes _you_ such an asset?” the car’s passenger asked tiredly.

“I understand how it feels,” Glanni replied in a surprisingly quiet voice. “That feeling like you’re a useless sack of shit, like there’s no way to climb out of the pit you didn’t even realize you were in until it was too late. That ‘where the hell can I go from here’ feeling? I get that, trust me, I do. And it sucks. It really…sucks.” He sighed. “But just remember I’m standing with you, alright? Y-you’ve got a roof over your head, you’ve got family, and you’ve got more going for you than it feels like right now, okay?”

The speech was impressive, certainly moreso than Robbie had expected from his cousin. Deep down, Robbie knew that Glanni was right—things could be a _lot_ worse, and at least he wasn’t alone in it all. But, on the surface, Robbie just felt angry and hurt that there was even a need for those words to be said in the first place. Who did Glanni think he was to presume how Robbie felt right now? So what if he was right on every front…Glanni had never been an artist. Glanni didn’t know how it felt to have everyone reject the best that you could do, or…or how it felt to be so empty and alone and just _hollow_ to the point where the things that once gave you joy, gave you _life_ no longer brought you any semblance of joy. Glanni didn’t know anything.

“Yeah,” Robbie grumbled. “I’ve got _so_ much going for me. I’ve got a whole couch to sleep on and a mountain of crappy paintings no one in their right mind would buy. It’s just great.”

An uncomfortable silence settled over the car. As it began to stretch longer than anticipated, Robbie began to regret his words. He wondered if he had gone too far. Probably. He always screwed things up with minimal effort.

“Yeah, well,” Glanni mumbled quietly, breaking the stillness with a steady, almost icy voice. “Some of us didn’t even have _that_.”

Robbie winced at his cousin’s words, suddenly feeling terrible. Yep, he had screwed up again. Typical Robbie. Fighting his instincts to become as small as possible and figure out a way to hide from someone barely a foot away from him, Robbie tried to glance over at Glanni yet still keep the man only in his peripheral vision. Glanni’s hardened face was looking out over the road ahead of them. At first, Robbie assumed the unchanging stare meant that Glanni was angry at his thoughtless comment. The longer he looked, however, the more Robbie noticed the slightly piqued brow, the tightness of his cousin’s jaw, and a slight glisten in his eye. No, he hadn’t _angered_ Glanni; he had hurt him. His only family, the man who had offered to take him in, who had spent time in jail and struggled for years to reintegrate into society, who had neither said or done anything cruel to Robbie to warrant his words. Instead of being kind, Robbie had heartlessly brushed aside both Glanni’s generosity as well as the man’s painful life experiences, and trivialized it all. Robbie stared at the box in his lap, feeling rotten inside.

“Sorry.”

There was a brief pause. “You should be,” Glanni said softly. “That was uncalled for.”

“I know.”

The rest of the drive was void of any further conversation, though it was also mercifully short. Glanni pulled up in front of an apartment building and turned off the engine.

“Home sweet home,” he said with a breathy sigh as he opened his door and got out, going around to the trunk to grab a large box to bring up with him.

Robbie hadn’t had much to move; he hadn’t even owned a real bed. Most everything had already been brought over in the days prior. Either that, or thrown out. Honestly, he wasn’t entirely certain, since he couldn’t bear to be there for any of it and had spent the time, instead, sitting in a café eating an entire pity cake by himself. No doubt Glanni and the movers resented him for it, but it had just been too painful to willfully watch his life and career simultaneously dismantled. Hopefully, the majority of his things had ended up here…in a building he now realized he had never once set foot inside. At least he’d only had the last couple of miscellaneous boxes left after the movers had finished the big job. Just one trip up and that was the end of it. He stood, closing the door behind him, and stared up at the bleak, grey building looming over him like a cruel monument to his own mediocrity.

“You coming?” Glanni called over his shoulder, foot outstretched to prop the front door for him.

At least the man didn’t sound upset with him anymore. That was a good sign, though Robbie’s couldn’t understand how Glanni could get over things so easily. He’d better not question things. He sprang into action, hurrying after his cousin and scurrying inside. He managed to keep pace with Glanni only until the second floor stairwell.

Despite the light load in his arms, Robbie felt like he was dying. His chest was on fire and his mouth hung open for his body’s pitiful attempt to get enough oxygen.  His legs painfully protested every step he took, growing slower and stiffer in their movement with every stair conquered. If not for Glanni keeping a steady pace ahead of him, Robbie could have sworn the entire world was slowing down around him. Was he going to black out? Oh, he hoped not…he would just have to retrace his steps if he fell down the flight of stairs, and there was no way he was repeating this nightmare. He looked up, watching Glanni moving farther and farther away from him. Robbie struggled to reach the next landing, pausing to catch his breath long enough to weakly call out.

“W-wait!” he gasped, leaning against a wall. “How— _ugh_ —D-do you live on the _moon_?”

“ _We_ live on the moon,” Glanni corrected, pausing his own climb to look down at his struggling cousin below. “Don’t worry. It’s a bitch now, but you’ll get used to it. Give it a month or two.”

Robbie wheezed at the mere thought of walking up and down these hellish stairs so regularly.

Glanni smirked. “Not all of us have fancy lifts in our buildings. I’ll meet you upstairs—we’re number three-oh-eight. I’m gonna go call for that pizza.”

Robbie gaped and gasped as he watched Glanni disappear around the bend and head up the next flight of stairs. He was calling it now—this building was going to be the literal death of him. With a groan and no shortage of muscle pain, Robin slowly hauled himself up one stair at a time until he reached the third floor. Eyes on his box, all energy focused on making it just one more step. Just one more. One more. And finally, after what felt like hours, he reached the top. Huffing and puffing, Robbie leaned against the wall for a moment to catch his breath. He stood straight again after a minute or two and gathered his energy to slowly make his way down the plain hallway to the correct apartment. With still-trembling hands, Robbie shifted his box to one arm and opened the door.

Glanni was in the kitchen mixing some sort of drink, from the sound of it. Because of course he was. While Glanni was out of sight and not present to see how weak and disheveled Robbie looked after his trek, he decided to take advantage of the moment and use his opportunity to look around his new living quarters free of commentary.

The place was small, which he had expected, but it _felt_ small. _Cramped_ would be a good word for it. Clothes and knick-knacks were everywhere, covering nearly every surface to the point that it took Robbie far too long to realize that there was a small table sitting in the corner of the main room. Even so, he was pretty sure that this was probably Glanni’s idea of _clean_. Robbie, himself, was an admitted lazy slob, sure, but even he was nothing compared to this. At least he cleaned up his place once in a while. Or, _had_ cleaned up his place. His _old_ place. Something churned in his stomach at the thought.

Robbie set his small box down on a pile of precariously stacked books nearby and wandered over to what he assumed was the tiny apartment’s excuse of a living room. One good thing was that it had an enormous television set against one wall. Across from it sat the ugliest mottled grey couch that Robbie had ever seen. Wedged between that couch and the opposite wall of the apartment, to Robbie’s surprise, was an unmade bed. There was literally no room to fit anything else in the small space…not if one wanted to be able to enter it, anyway. How did Glanni keep from feeling claustrophobic in this place? And, more immediately worrying, Robbie really hoped that Glanni didn’t snore too badly if they were both going to be sleeping with their heads mere inches from one another every night. Oh yes, this place was going to be just the _epitome_ of fun.

“Glanni, you might be one step away from being a hoarder,” Robbie called to the kitchen.

“You just wait ‘till laundry day,” the man yelled back. “You won’t recognize the place!”

Somehow Robbie doubted that.

Glanni emerged from the tiny kitchen and held out a tall glass to his cousin. Robbie wasn’t sure what it was, but it was colorful, smelled vaguely alcoholic, and had a whole fresh strawberry impaled on the edge of the glass as the biggest bit of garnish Robbie had ever seen. He accepted the drink and watched as Glanni sipped his own.

“Figured you might need a drink,” his host said softly.

Their miniature altercation in the car seemed to be officially behind them, for which Robbie was eternally grateful. Maybe Glanni was just satisfied that he had been thoroughly punished for his words by having to walk up all those damn stairs.

“Thanks.” Robbie stared down at the concoction in his hand. “What is it?”

The other man shrugged. “Dunno, haven’t given it a name yet. I kind of made it up one night. But it’s good!” He took another sip.

As stupid as it sounded, Robbie had to admit that was the most ‘Glanni’ explanation of a drink he had ever heard. He played with the strawberry clinging to the side of his glass, trying to figure out how to avoid taking it off and having to hold it, or how to nudge it out of the way so it wouldn’t hit him in the nose. He finally managed to take a sip, the red object barely a hairs width from touching him, even after all of his finagling. Robbie couldn’t tell exactly what was in the drink, but it was good, if a little fruity. That was probably why Glanni had added his dumb garnish.

“Since when do you keep strawberries at home? Much less _use_ them?” Robbie asked, wrinkling his nose at the offensive food item.

Glanni shrugged. “They grow on you.”

“Like the stairs from hell?”

Glanni smirked. “Yeah, kind of.”

Robbie rolled his eyes. “It’s your stupid new boyfriend, isn’t it?”

“He’s not really _new_ ,” Glanni countered, then shrugged. “He _can_ be pretty stupid sometimes, though. I swear he’s got to be from Neptune or something.”

Glanni had met some ‘stud’ as he had originally called them, almost a year ago. He had never disclosed the details of said meeting to Robbie, but it apparently hadn’t been long before the two had fallen into bed together. Normally, that wouldn’t surprise Robbie in the slightest, but this guy was apparently different, and the pair had been near-inseparable ever since. Robbie still wasn’t sure if the mystery man had wooed his cousin before or _after_ getting Glanni a job on a fishing boat. He also wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to be in a relationship with your supervisor, but then again Glanni wasn’t exactly known for making the best choices. Even so, Robbie couldn’t remember the last time Glanni had been so happy, and so he’d always held his tongue about it.

“Come on,” Glanni said, nodding down the short hallway. “Let’s get you settled. Go grab that box of yours.”

Robbie stopped poking at his drink’s unfortunate addition and went back to scoop up his box and follow after his host. If he was going to live here, he might as well see what he had to work with as far as storage space. All of his stupid odds-and-ends had to be _somewhere_ in this apartment, after all. Judging by how Glanni’s things were thrown every which way and a full-size _bed_ was in the living room, though, he was not expecting much. Maybe a corner of Glanni’s sex paraphernalia room or something. His cousin lead Robbie down the short hallway and opened the door at the end, heading inside. Robbie stopped short in the doorway.

Glanni had an old, worn dresser against the far wall, near what Robbie recognized to be his own worn out work desk. Surprisingly, a large pristine-looking bed sat in the center of the room. Beside it sat his beloved orange chair waiting for him. A row of paintings were lined in the corner, and the rest of the room was filled with towers of boxes.

“Sorry if it’s not arranged the best. We didn’t really know how you’d like it, but, uh, I guess there’s plenty of time to move it around and make it yours, huh?”

Robbie almost didn’t hear him, too distracted by the scenery.

“What’s all this?” Robbie heard himself ask as his eyes drifted over the room.

“This is your room,” Glanni said as if it were obvious. “I moved my bed out to the living room so…you could have your own.”

Robbie blinked and stared at the plush-looking centerpiece. “That’s…mine?”

“Of course it is, numbnuts,” Glanni said teasingly, taking another sip of his drink. “No cousin of mine was going to stay here and not have a _bed_. What, you really expected to have to sleep on the couch indefinitely?”

Robbie could only muster a minor shrug. He stared at the piece of furniture. _His_ piece of furniture. Glanni had gone and bought him his own bed. He could scarcely believe his eyes, even now. He hadn’t had a real bed in years, opting to sleep in his chair instead. Now he had both.

“Glanni, I…I don’t know what to say.”

“I don’t care what you say so long as you actually _sleep_ in it,” his cousin dismissed.

Robbie wanted to say a million things. He wanted to thank his cousin for being there for him. He wanted to thank him for giving up his own bedroom just for Robbie’s comfort. He wanted to apologize for the car and for taking up so much space and intruding upon his cousin’s life in every way imaginable. Instead, he heard himself ask “How the heck did you get all of this up those awful _stairs_?”

“I barely did shit,” Glanni said with the wave of a hand. He nodded toward the room arrangement. “That was all Íþrótt.”

Robbie looked over the room with new eyes, taking in the sight of not only the furniture, but all of his useless belongings scattered about as well. He gave a low whistle. “Okay, maybe he _is_ as strong as you say he is,” the man relented. “Seriously? This was _just_ him?”

Glanni nodded. “Pretty much, yeah. I mean, I tried to help, but even the heavy stuff felt like it barely weighed a thing. I think he just needed me there as a fulcrum or something. The guy’s _weird_. Besides—” He swatted playfully at Robbie’s arm. “—I don’t joke around when it comes to muscles, Robin. I swear that boy could bench-press a horse. He can bench press _me_ no problem,” he added with a wink.

Robbie made a face, worried there might be more details to follow. Thankfully, a sudden knock at the apartment door pulled Glanni’s attention away from the conversation for the moment.

“Damn, they _are_ as fast.”

The man shrugged, downed the rest of his drink, and flashed Robbie a smile before heading back to the main room to get the door. Robbie stayed put for a bit longer. He swirled the drink in his hands, letting the movement distract him from Glanni’s grand gesture laid out before him.

So, this was it, then. Another chapter of his life over and done with, petering out into a fizzle of faux glory. He didn’t really see where a failure like him could possibly go from here, but…at least he had someone who gave a damn about him. And one person was far better than no one at all. As horrible as things were, at least he was a hair above rock bottom.

“Pizza time! Get out here before it’s gone because I’m not holding back!”

Robbie couldn’t help but allow himself a small smile. He turned off the light to the room— _his room_ —and left to join Ganni for dinner. He could leave the organizing and personalizing for later.


	2. Calm Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, fun fact: I'd been writing this sucker all through July.  
> On the LAST day of the month, the file corrupted. 32,000 words GONE. I, understandably, had kind of a breakdown. If you follow me on Tumblr, you probably already know this story XD  
> Then--a miracle! I found the backup file I'd made on the 19th, and it had 20,500 of those missing words on it! AAAHHH! Combine that with snippets I was able to recover from chatting with the awesome @sportscandycollective and...I was able to recover about 24k out of 32k. That is AMAZING!! Sure, that's a bunch of work lost, but it's nowhere near as horrible and scary as it could have been. 
> 
> But...who wants to tempt fate? I want to get a few chapters out as soon as possible to make sure that doesn't happen again lol

It wasn’t even a full week before Glanni had to leave. “Duty calls,” he said with a shrug when breaking the news to his cousin. He had asked for a vacation, but it seemed that some sort of flu had been going around and fishermen were dropping like flies. No crew meant no fish meant no pay for anyone, so Glanni had agreed to fill one of the sudden vacancies. It was to be a very long endeavor, from what Robbie was told. A month out on the water to make sure they didn’t fall behind on being able to make the year’s quota, then a short rest for business by land before heading right back out again.

Glanni apologized profusely while he packed his bags and tried to help Robbie simultaneously settle into his new home life and prepare him to take care of the apartment on his own. He had simply nodded and done his best to assure Glanni that his apologies were unnecessary because life happens. Quietly, he worried about how quiet their living space was about to become.

As predicted, Robbie didn’t like being in the apartment alone. The claustrophobic abode suddenly felt like a cavernous hole that he couldn’t seem to escape. He spent most of his days either laying in bed—he had to admit that Glanni had chosen the best mattress on the planet—or sitting on the couch staring blankly at whatever happened to be on the television. More often than not, he ended up watching some sort of cooking show, which made him hungry, and usually ended with him calling for take-out and feeling fat afterward. At some point, he would fall asleep only to wake up and repeat the cycle.

Twenty-six days. Glanni was gone for twenty-six days. Robbie knew his cousin had told him that he would be gone for roughly a month, but it hadn’t really registered in his mind just how _long_ that really was. Their few days together had be surprisingly nice. Therapeutic, even. Robbie hadn’t realized just how much he had missed conversation and the general company of other people until Glanni had left and he had been forced to return to his self-imposed exile from society.

It was a very long couple of weeks.

“Honey, I’m ho—ly fucking Christ, Robbie!”

The failed artist jolted up from where he had been lounging on the couch, giving a shout of surprise at his cousin’s sudden appearance in the doorway. He slid from the couch cushion, landing roughly on the floor with a grunt before his knee slammed itself against the nearby bed frame. Robbie let out a curse and grabbed for his injured knee before looking back up at his host. Glanni’s twin duffle bags fell to the floor at his sides.

“G-Glanni! You’re back!” he squeaked, a faint smile appearing on his lips at the sight of returned family.

The older of the pair stood where he was, his eyes slowly scanning the room. Robbie clenched his jaw as a wave of self-consciousness washed over him. His eyes followed Glanni’s gaze, slowly realizing just how terrible a guest he really was. Crumpled socks were everywhere, fast food containers on every surface, some still with food clinging to their insides, dirty plates and cutlery piled in the sink, and a heap of boxes and wrappers stacked next to the overflowing garbage can at the edge of the kitchen.  Oh boy.

“I see you’ve made yourself at _home_ ,” Glanni said slowly, his arms looking a little stiff at his sides.

Robbie swallowed and shakily got to his feet. “I, uh, I was going to clean…I…” He cleared his throat. “I thought I had a couple more days,” he admitted quietly.

Glanni didn’t look up from his slow survey as he spoke. “Cut the trip short since we were still missing hands,” he mumbled distractedly. “Robbie…what the _hell_?”

Why did he suddenly feel like a ten year old boy under the scrutiny of a disappointed parent?

“I thought _I_ had trouble cleaning house but…but _damn_.” Glanni shook his head. “Robbie, this place is…disgusting.” He nudged a to-go container with his foot. “Did you leave the apartment at _all_ while I was gone?”

“ _Uhh_ …I…n-not… _often_?” Once was often, right?

Glanni gave Robbie a look. He wasn’t sure what sort of look it was, but it made Robbie feel guilty nonetheless. He scratched his left arm for some sort of mild distraction while his eyes slowly dropped from Glanni’s face to somewhere around the man’s shoulders.

“I _am_ sorry. I got a little…lazy, I guess. I’ll clean it. All of it. I’ll—Glanni, where are you going?” Robbie called out in surprise when his cousin suddenly started down the hall.

Realizing where Glanni was headed, Robbie yelped in panic and scrambled after the man, desperate to keep the bedroom door closed. No, no, no! He couldn’t let Glanni see that—

“You haven’t touched _anything_!”

Robbie froze a few inches behind his cousin. He closed his eyes, wincing at the man’s sharp tone when he spoke again. 

“Robbie, it’s— _nothing_ is unpacked! Hell, if anything, it’s worse!” he cried, giving the additional bowls, dirty laundry, and used food packaging a hard stare. “You said you were going to finish unpacking while I was away. The box we left off with looks like it hasn’t been touched since!”

Robbie shied back when his cousin turned around to face him, trying his best to prepare himself for a verbal lashing that was sure to leave him guilt-ridden for days afterward. Robbie expected the man to look angry, or worse, disappointed in the sorry excuse of a life he had lived for the past few weeks. Instead, once he found the courage to meet Glanni’s gaze, Robbie saw only…worry…concern…fear? He blinked, quietly standing there in the hallway as his brain tried to figure out if he was really seeing what he was seeing…and why.

“Robin,” Glanni said slowly, his voice quieter now. “Wh-what is all this?”

Robbie stood quietly and chewed at his lower lip. His nose twitched nervously, a terrible and obvious habit of his since childhood that he had never been able to break, and waited for Glanni’s inevitable reprimand.

“Are you okay?”

Robbie blinked, his face twisting into one of puzzlement at the softly spoken question. Okay? Was he _okay_? He had symbolically spat in Glanni’s face and stomped on the man’s generosity by destroying the his home in his absence and Glanni was asking if he was _okay_? It didn’t make any sense and Robbie’s furrowed brow proved just how perplexed he was by such a simple-sounding question. His cousin noted the crinkled expression and sighed, shoulders drooping in a show of passivity.

“I’m not _angry_ , Robin. I’m _worried_.” Glanni gestured to the bedroom behind him before nodding toward the living room they had left behind. “All this. Your workspace is one thing, but, Robbie, I’ve _never_ seen you live like this in your entire life.” He took a step forward and, trying to ignore how his little cousin flinched away from his touch, rested his fingertips on Robbie’s jaw as he inspected the man’s face. “Jesus, Robin. You’re so _pale_. Have you even _been_ outside since I left?”

Robbie swallowed nervously, leaning back ever so slightly, his instinct to flee attempting to override the rational portion of his brain that told him that Glanni was family and not about to attack him over some…mountains…of garbage throughout the apartment.

“I, uh, took out the trash maybe a week ago?” he offered, grasping at anything that might somehow dissolve the uncomfortable conversation sooner.

“ _A week_?” Glanni asked in shock, his hands falling to rest on each of Robbie’s shoulders.

Robbie felt like each of those hands weight a thousand pounds. He seemed to shrink, his knees threatening to give out under such pressure, imaginary or not. He grimaced and, unable to shrug, decided to look at a sock on the floor.

“I didn’t think I could take those stairs any more than that,” he admitted with mild shame. “Th-the bag was heavy a-and it was a long way down.”

Glanni stared at him. He was silent for a few long seconds before saying “Robbie…you know there’s a trash chute at the end of the hallway, right?”

The artist’s sock-focused eyes widened and his jaw stiffened. A garbage chute? After he had lugged that awful thing down three flights of stairs and nearly killed himself trying to crawl his way back up afterward? Robbie shuddered, suddenly aware of something gently shaking his shoulders.

“ _Robin_ , sweetie,” Glanni was saying. “Honey cakes, listen to me.”

Robbie blinked and shivered.

“Robbie, look at me.”

He felt himself frowning.

“ _Look at me_.”

Reluctantly, he did as he was told. Glanni’s eyes were round, the corners of his parted lips downturned. Robbie’s fingers twitched nervous at his sides and he could feel his nose doing likewise, though he was unable to stop it.

Glanni spoke slowly, gently rubbing his cousin’s shoulder as he did. “What’s wrong?”

After a pause—probably too long of a pause—Robbie wet his lips and, in a voice that sounded too small to come from such a tall man, said “I’m sorry. About the mess. I know it’s awful, I just—”

“No, n-n-n-no. _No_. What’s wrong, Robbie? Something’s wrong. Talk to me. I don’t care about the mess, it’s just shit. We’ll pick it up. What’ve you been doing while I was away?”

Robbie sighed. “N-not much,” he admitted, not liking the strange twisting sensation in his chest as he spoke. “I…watched a lot of TV. I, uh—” He glanced around at all the take out containers again. “—I called in for food a lot. I…took out the trash?”

Glanni waited for a few seconds. “And? What else?”

Robbie gathered his strength for a weak shrug.

Glanni sighed, shaking his head as his eyes drifted away, unfocused as he thought to himself. After a moment he looked back to Robbie and brushed a hand through the man’s already-mussed hair. Robbie felt his body relax automatically at the touch, letting the familiar comforting sensation of his cousin’s hand momentarily fling him back in time, back to when they were children and needed each other just to get through the school day. They had been so close back then…what happened? Robbie let out a ragged sigh, somehow feeling like he might be back in the schoolyard again, Glanni patching up a scraped knee or chasing away one of the bullies that tormented them.

“Robbie. Have you spent all month in here watching TV?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t go outside?”

Slowly, Robbie shook his head. “…No.”

A brief silence. Then “Can I give you a hug?”

Robbie felt a stinging in his eyes and a tightening in his chest as he gave a stiff nod.

Glanni sighed and wrapped his arms around the other man, pulling Robbie close. He let his cousin bury his face in the crook of his neck, feeling the artist’s thin arms engulf him. Glanni stroked Robbie’s hair as he ignored how moist his shoulder had already become.

“’M ‘orry,” Robbie mumbled, voice muffled as the other man’s arms swallowed him whole.

“ _Shhh_. It’s okay, Robin. You don’t have to be sorry.” He swallowed and rested his cheek against Robbie’s soft hair. “ _I’m_ sorry. I’m sorry I had to leave. I… _ugh_ , I knew I shouldn’t have fucking left you alone. I’m sorry. I…I should have told them I couldn’t go. I’m supposed to be helping you fix things, not abandoning you.”

Robbie gave Glanni a squeeze. Angling his face away from its resting place just enough that he could be properly heard, he said “Not your fault you have to do your job…”

“No, but I should’ve done better by you when you needed me.”

Robbie’s muscles tightened. He _wanted_ to say he didn’t need Glanni, that he could take care of himself. But, that would be both rude and a lie, as the current state of the apartment clearly confirmed. He had reluctantly agreed to his cousin’s offer to live with him out of necessity, but he really _did_ need Glanni. He’d missed finally having someone to talk to, to eat with, having someone just a room away who actually gave a damn about him. It was a need he had gone without for so long, and to have it taken away again had hurt far more than expected. Robbie hated how far he’d fallen, how he had acted and felt in Glanni’s absence. He felt guilty for being such a slob, being an ungrateful houseguest…and now he felt guilty for causing Glanni to feel like he wasn’t doing enough when the man had never had to do anything at all.

“You should throw on something clean and comfortable,” Glanni said suddenly as he gently patted Robbie’s back. “We’re going out for dinner. You need to see more than these four walls, and _I’ve_ been stuck on the ocean for a month. We need a night out.”

Robbie pulled back, biting his lip. “A-are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Glanni gave a mighty grin. “More than sure! You go find something to wear. I’m going to go take a shower so I don’t smell like fish. We’ll clean shit later; I need some food in me first.”

Robbie hesitantly agreed, watching his cousin go back to grab his duffle bags and get ready for the evening. While Glanni was gone from view, Robbie stepped inside his room and gently closed the door behind him. Robbie wandered to his closet in a mental fog, unsure how to process things. Outside his room he could hear the shower already running.

The entire situation felt so strange to him. Glanni wasn’t angry that he had single-handedly trashed his apartment. Glanni felt bad for leaving him for his _job_. Glanni was taking him out to dinner somewhere. Robbie couldn’t figure out any of the _whys_ for any of it, and he wondered if he should be questioning it at all. Did any of it even matter anyway? It felt like it should, but…he had his family back now. He should probably just try to enjoy the company and not question things.

“Wear something fun!” he heard from the bathroom, Glanni’s voice muffled only slightly by the distance. “So help me, you are not going to make me look out of fucking place!”

Robbie allowed himself a small smile. Yes, Glanni was definitely home. At least, if nothing else, he knew this wasn’t some weirdly mundane dream. He opened his closet to take stock at what clean clothes he might have left to choose from. Hanging his wardrobe had been the first thing Glanni insisted on unpacking when Robbie had moved in, and he was thankful for it. He might not have had the energy to do much over the past month, but at least he hadn’t needed to dig through piles of boxes to find long-wrinkled clothes. Although, seeing just how few things were left hanging in his closet now, Robbie realized just how badly he needed to do his laundry.

The shower turned off and Robbie could hear his cousin proceeding to preen himself in the mirror, humming happily and complimenting the devilishly handsome man looking back at him from the reflective surface. Robbie rolled his eyes and took down what was probably the only decent shirt left available. He probably needed to make sure he looked presentable himself once Glanni was finished in there. God, that was a face Robbie didn’t want to see right now. He pulled on the shirt, soon followed by his pants, and started securing the buttons that traveled up his sternum.

“Bathroom’s all yours,” Glanni announced, peeking his head in the room.

Robbie yelped in surprise and hugged his chest out of pure instinct. He turned around and gave his cousin a disgusted look. “I could have been _naked_!” he shouted angrily.

Glanni shrugged. “Nothing I’ve never seen before,” he dismissed. “But yeah, bathroom’s all yours! I’m going to get dressed.”

Robbie was left alone, blinking. Get dressed? Had _Glanni_ been the one who was…? The man shook his head violently to try and get _that_ image out of his head. _Blech_. He occupied himself with finishing off his shirt buttons and headed to the bathroom, grateful that Glanni’s shower had been quick enough to avoid the suffocating jungle-like atmosphere that usually followed his cousin’s time in the bathroom.

Oh God, Robbie had been right. He looked horrible. Eyes puffy, skin pale even for him. He looked as tired as his soul _felt_ and it was ugly as sin. He snatched up his makeup bag, desperate to fix the sin that was his own face. He was somewhere between foundation and blush when he heard a quiet voice from somewhere in the living room. He put down his brush with a frown, leaning toward the bathroom door in an attempt to figure out what was going on.

“—some head shrinker! No. No, I don’t want to do that to him,” he could hear Glanni say softly to an unknown party that was clearly on the other end of a phone conversation. “ _Yes_ I’m worried! I just… _ugh_ , I…I don’t want him to feel like he’s crazy.”

Robbie swallowed, his heart slowly sinking down into his stomach as he realized what—or, more accurately, _who_ —the conversation must be about.

“Because I know how he feels, Íþrótt, that’s why!” Glanni sighed, taking in a deep breath and obviously trying to keep his voice down so Robbie wouldn’t be doing what he was doing at that exact moment. “He’s just…down on his luck. He needs a break, that’s all.” Another pause in the conversation. “Y-yeah.” Robbie could practically hear Glanni’s smile with his next words. “I couldn’t have asked for a better break. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you stupid, bulky _fiskurma_ _ður_!”

Robbie hunched his shoulders, feeling uncomfortable as he heard Glanni’s voice drop again.

“…I just…want the Robin I knew back. He’s not really a cousin, he’s more like a little brother, you know?” Pause. “Yeah.” Pause. “I know it’s a lot. I know. Íþrótt, I know. Please. I—” More quiet, then a soft sigh. “Thank you. Th-thank you, Íþrótt. It means a lot to me.” Pause. “I know. I know, thank you.”

Robbie could hear a sniffle. He probably shouldn’t be listening. No, he _knew_ he shouldn’t be listening. But he couldn’t help it. He might be prying on a private conversation, but it was a conversation about _him_ and what a mess he was; there was no way he could just stop listening now.

“I just don’t know what to do,” Glanni continued, his voice cracking, making Robbie feel even worse about listening in. “I’m not good at this, Íþrótt. Y-you saw what a mess _I_ was when we met! I…I don’t want Robbie to end up that bad. B-but I’m about the shittiest role model you could—” Another pause interrupted his spiral. “That’s just because you’re a big stupid sap who doesn’t know any better,” Glanni said with a strained giggle. “B-but really, Íþrótt…th-thank you. I owe you so much—” Pause. “ _No_. I _do_. You’re a saint.” Pause. “Okay. Okay, I’ll see you then. Once I…figure out how to tell him.” Pause. “Yeah. I love you, too, _Unnusti m_ _inn_.”

Robbie heard the barely audible beep of a call being ended, as well as the deep sigh from Glanni that followed it. Tell him…tell him _what_ , exactly? Robbie eased away from the door, unsure at what point he had approached to press his ear against the thin wood.

He wasn’t entirely sure what to think of the conversation as he went back to work, figuring he should start working on his eye shadow before Glanni began to wonder what was taking him so long. He needed to do something with his hands anyway, anything to keep himself from wondering if he was even worse off than he thought, if Glanni felt the need to consult his boyfriend about Robbie’s behavior in his absence.

A gentle knock at the bathroom door alerted him to his cousin’s presence.

“You okay in there?”

“Y-yeah, almost ready.”

“I was thinking we could go to that little dessert bar place that opened before I left. Remember?”

Robbie nodded to himself. Glanni had shown him the advertisement the same day he’d gotten the call about needing to cut his vacation short. It had looked good. A little touristy, but Robbie liked places like that sometimes; he could disappear into the anonymous crowd and not be noticed, much less bothered. With Glanni there, though, who knew how much he could really blend into the background.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Be ready in five, then, okay? I want to get there before the dinner crowd starts coming out and ruining everything.”

“Okay.”

Robbie packed his makeup away and set his bag aside. He leaned on the counter and stared at himself in the mirror. He _looked_ like his normal self once again, but something about his eyes were…off. It was hard for him to pinpoint what it was. Maybe he didn’t look quiet as normal as he hoped. Robbie sighed, eyes drifting down to his hands sitting on the edge of the sink. He would have a good time tonight. He had company. Company that had entire conversations about his shitty he was doing behind his back while also making some sort of mysterious plans about his life, apparently, but…company nonetheless. And Glanni cared about him. That, at least, he knew. They were going out and they were going to have fun. And…Robbie would just try not to think about how climbing all those stairs to get back to the apartment was going to hurt until the night was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter might not be the best to post after the sadness that reached the community yesterday, what with how sad Robbie is at this point in the story, but...damnit, Stefan wanted us to keep memeing, and who am I to question it? I'm not going to leave the fandom, I'm not going to leave my stories, and I'm not going to leave all of you. I am going to be happy to have lived and loved at the same time as such a wonderful man as Stefan, and I'm going to keep smiling, sharing, and creating. Because I owe him that much, if nothing else.

**Author's Note:**

> There ARE merfolk in this fic, I swear...


End file.
